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The New York Times has provoked intense criticism on Thursday for posting personal information on the whistleblower at President Donald Trump's indictment investigation center, some critics claiming the decision could put the person in danger.
The Times article, released Thursday afternoon, specified the profession and employer of the whistleblower, citing three familiar anonymous sources of his identity. NBC News does not reprint the article details as the whistleblower tries to keep the anonymity.
"It is absolutely horrible to think that this would serve the public interest," said Nick Shapiro, former assistant chief of staff and senior advisor to former CIA director John Brennan, at NBC News.
Shapiro, one of many former government officials and media commentators who criticized the Times on Twitter, added that the article could deter other whistleblowers from disclosing potentially damaging information about the administration.
"This whistleblower, who deserves to be protected, has put the country first, has gone through all the proper channels to do it the right way," Shapiro said. "This will send a scary message to everyone else."
In a tweet, Ben Rhodes – Assistant National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama and MSNBC contributor – struck a similar deal, arguing that the Times article put the author of the complaint "at risk" and "deterred" those who might want to follow his example.
"The Times regularly grants more anonymity to Trump employees who lie about mundane things," Rhodes said in a separate tweet. "The whistleblower is denied this discretion because he has used the proper legal channels for national security."
But Clint Watts, a researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institution and contributor to NBC News, has shown himself less critical of the newspaper's decision.
He said that, while he felt that the identity of all the whistleblowers should be preserved, he felt that some of the Times' criticisms, particularly on Twitter, were exaggerated because the newspaper did not want to see it. had not identified the whistleblower by name.
It also goes without saying that the Trump administration could infer the identity of the author of the complaint without the help of Times reporters, Watts added.
The article itself contained a defense of journalistic judgment pronounced by editor Dean Baquet:
"The role of the whistleblower, including its credibility and its place in the government, is essential to understanding one of the most important issues facing the country: the fact that the president of the states United States has abused power and the White House has covered it. "
In response to critics, Baquet released a statement on Thursday in which he said the newspaper "has decided to release limited information about the whistleblower … because we wanted to inform readers so they could judge his credibility or not. "
Baquet said questions about the credibility of the whistleblower had been raised by Trump and "some of his supporters," noting that the president had called the complaint "hack political work".
A Times spokesman directed NBC News to Baquet's statement.
The article was published shortly after reports revealed that Trump had compared those who had provided information to the whistleblower to spies. These statements have been confirmed by NBC News.
Trump told a private group in a New York hotel Thursday morning that the people who had informed the whistleblower were "close to a spy", adding that the US should "manipulate" them as they did " to the old "allusion to the execution of people caught spying. The United States executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 after finding them guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage.
The whistle-blower officially filed a complaint in July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he had asked his foreign counterpart to determine why the country's chief prosecutor had apparently put an end to a commercial relations investigation. from Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.
The case is now the subject of a formal dismissal investigation launched this week by the House of Representatives. The whistleblower, whose complaint was made public Thursday by the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives, wrote that Trump "was using the power of his office to seek the intervention of a foreign country in the 2020 elections ".
Kelly Magsamen, vice-president of national security and international policy at the left-wing think-tank Center for American Progress, said the Times' information could help the White House find it more easily.
"There are traces of employment," Magsamen said in an email. "From now on, Trump and his staff will be able to clarify the identity of this whistleblower, which is discouraging for all national security professionals who have served or are currently on staff" of the National Security Council.
Jack Shafer, a seasoned media critic who writes a column for Politico, appeared to defend the Times' decision by writing on Twitter: "Where is it written that the job of the press is to protect the identity of the launchers of Alert official? " The tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of a quote from an 1852 edition of the British newspaper The Times about the "first duty of the press".
Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post media columnist and former editor of the Times, joke on Twitter that the Times' initiative, which allows newspaper readers to ask questions and get feedback, was probably flooded
"I guess it's a busy day for the New York Reader Center," writes Sullivan.
Robert Windrem contributed.
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